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Brad GilbertFormer tennis player, now coach and analyst
Date of Birth: 09.08.1961
Country:  USA |
Biography of Brad Gilbert
Former Tennis Player, now Coach and AnalystBrad Gilbert, a former American professional tennis player, is a renowned coach and analyst in the sport. He achieved the bronze medal at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. Gilbert started playing tennis at the age of five and represented the USA at the X Maccabiah Games when he was only 15 years old. Four years later, in 1981, the 19-year-old Gilbert represented the USA again at the Maccabiah Games, winning a gold medal in doubles.
In 1982, Gilbert reached the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship and was included in the symbolic USA collegiate team. Later that year, he turned professional. Gilbert made it to his first Grand Prix tournament final in 1984 in Taipei, where he secured his first victory. In 1985, he participated in five finals, winning three of them, and in early 1986, he broke into the top ten of the ATP rankings for the first time. From that year onwards, Gilbert represented the USA national team.
In the Davis Cup, Gilbert played 15 matches for the USA team, winning 10 and losing 5, all in singles matches. His highest achievement was reaching the semifinals of the World Group in 1986 and 1989. In 1987, as part of the USA team, Gilbert reached the final of the World Team Cup in West Germany, where he claimed the only victory for the American team, which lost 2-1 to the Czechoslovak team. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Gilbert was seeded fifth and reached the semifinals, where he lost to the second-seeded Tim Mayotte. As there was no third-place match that year, Gilbert automatically became the bronze medalist of the Olympics.
The year 1989 was the most successful in Gilbert's career. He reached the finals of eight tournaments, including the WCT Finals, and emerged victorious in five of them. In Cincinnati, he consecutively defeated three players who were in the top ten of the rankings: Michael Chang, Boris Becker, and Stefan Edberg. Interestingly, in the third round of the same tournament, he defeated a young Pete Sampras, who was at the beginning of his career. As a result, Gilbert achieved his highest ranking of fourth in early 1990. In 1990, Gilbert repeated his best result in Grand Slam tournaments by reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. That year, he won three tournaments and reached two more finals, including the Grand Slam Cup, where he lost to Sampras. After that, he did not achieve such significant success, although he reached the finals of singles tournaments seven more times in the following four years and won one doubles tournament.
In early 1995, Gilbert essentially ended his tennis career, although he participated in one doubles tournament per season for the next three years. He played his last tournament in 1998 (a Challenger tournament in Los Angeles), partnering with Andre Agassi.
